Ai Wo Mamoru
by Mah-Xien
Summary: Set during the Repliforce war. A simple talk between two best friends according to X's standpoint ZeroxIris implied


Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. The characters mentioned in this short story all belong to Capcom. Period.

_**The difference between protecting and loving is very little…**_

The doors of infirmary slid open, greeting the young reploid entering with the smell of patients and medicine. He had known that his best friend was in here somewhere, fixing up the damages he received from the recent battle. He knows for a fact that Colonel wasn't an easy opponent, and the recent news probably shocked the warrior as much as he did.

"Zero?" he calls out softly, lest he might awake some of the patients being treated nearby. When he heard no reply, he called out again.

"Over here, X." Came a voice not of a human, but the difference was so small no one could easily notice. The reploid made his way to the repair table just by the corner and saw his best friend, lying down on the inclined table, his left leg and side of his head connected with wires. Those areas were the most damaged when he faced the Colonel but it shouldn't be much of a problem with the infirmary staff. "Yo."

X looked at Zero, who didn't look as cheerful as his greeting was. "I guess you already know the news, huh?" He stopped in his words, allowed it to sink it in between the two of them. "I'm really sorry, Zero. If I were here, I could've stopped her."

"Don't talk about the 'what ifs'; what's done is done." Zero says, somehow regretting ever to leave her at the time she needs assurance the most. "Although she's a bit soft, I know Iris. Once she makes up her mind, no one could stop her. I only have me to blame if something bad happens to her."

X sighed, and watched as the red reploid finished the tests given to him. The blue hero was neither blind nor deaf not to notice the budding love the two had for each other, although it's a bit under the table due to the fact that they're officers on duty. He knows the reason why Zero took custody over Iris during the Repliforce war, and it wasn't just over some macho bull he and the Colonel had discussed over.

"I can't stop her." Zero said after those moments of silence. Sitting up, he stared at the white curtain in front of him. "I did what I could to keep her here, to make sure she's safe, but it's her decision to stay or go. I need that assurance that once I go out to the battlefield, I know she's just here in the central command, and not one of the reploids I'm going to have to slay at the battlefield."

The blue reploid nodded, feeling that brotherly instinct over the young Repliforce trainee, knowing that he share his best friend's sentiments, although not a degree higher than Zero's. Because if it were him in Zero's place, he would have thought the same was he had done.

But there are some things wars bring that could never be replaced. It was the tragedy of the war that made it so frustrating, even for the azure reploid, who doesn't feel that he's entirely made for combat. And it was too late now. Both of them, he and Zero, were symbols of power in the MHHQ, but were powerless against the will, although weak but still present, of one reploid dear to both of them.

"Why can't I seem to protect the one person I care for?" Zero asked himself softly, snapping X out of his reverie. "If I were to face her in battle, would I put my saber down for her?"

"That's for you to answer Zero." X replied, carefully choosing his words. It wasn't smart to deal with Zero recklessly especially when he's in this kind of mood. X learned it the hard way since the day he entered in on the Maverick Hunters. "To choose between her and the million lives that depended on you as a Hunter to live wouldn't be easy, but that would be your choice."

The blond-haired reploid heaved a small sigh, as if resigning to the will of the fates. "It's not easy…" he smashes the side of his shaking fist to the table, causing the cement to crack a bit. "Why were we cursed with emotions! To care, to hate, to love…why do we have to feel all these?"

"It's what makes us unique." X answers. "It what makes us different from each other, reploid to reploid, reploid to robot. There's a reason for everything. We just haven't found that reason yet."

Before Zero could reply, the sirens went off. The two Hunters exchanged glances, and without any more sound, dashed out of the infirmary.

_There is always a choice…not between good or evil, but between the good and the greater good._

Owari


End file.
